The
Infinite "To Do"
List
It’s
only January 1st and already
I feel like I’m behind. I
mean, the new year isn’t even
24 hours old and I’m stressed
about the things that I have
yet to get done, like change
the oil in the minivan and
replace all the “copyright
2001s” on my website with
“copyright 2002s”.
It’s
a shame too because had you
asked me at the beginning
of December I would have told
you that by the first of the
year I would have to be making
up NEW things to do. I was
efficiently accomplishing
the tasks on my current “To
Do” list - redesigning websites
that had long needed overhauls
and starting rehearsing with
the band to make some progress
on that CD I’ve been talking
about since 1999.
I
wasn’t even panicked about
Christmas gifts because I
had a list all prepared and
just needed one day to go
out and pick them up. A few
hours at the store, a few
hours wrapping and voila,
the holidays would be a snap.
Then
suddenly, somewhere along
the way, my train of productivity
got derailed and I’m still
staggering to catch up. On
Christmas eve I realized that
it was FAR too late to ship
presents to my parents on
the west coast. Hell, half
their gifts were still waiting
to be picked up at a friend’s
store.... Here’s hoping Christmas
is just as nice in the middle
of February.
Then
there was the whole issue
of my fiancée's stocking -
having wasted $43.33 on tchotchke
it became clear that, really,
there wasn’t nearly enough
stuff to FILL the stocking.
It became obvious when we
went into separate rooms to
wrap our stocking presents
and I finished a full hour
before she did. Okay, I finished
in 7 minutes.
And
then an hour before an informal
holiday gathering of friends
when I found myself desperately
racing from store to store
trying to find a decent bottle
of tequila and a case of Corona
after having completed a panicked
15 minute speed-shopping trip
to get party snacks, well,
I knew I was in trouble.
I
don't know how I got so far
behind because, really, I'm
amazingly organized. I make
"To Do" lists weekly, sometimes
daily. They read not just
as an agenda for any given
day but like an agenda for
my life. There, laid out in
neat black printing on fancy
pastel gray legal pads, is
my plan to take over the world
one step at a time.
I've
been making the lists for
several years now because
I hate sitting down and having
a lot of productive energy
but not knowing what to focus
on. I figured the lists would
be a great way to channel
that energy. Wake up feeling
like you want to accomplish
something? Well, choose an
item off the list!
Of
course what happens is that
you tend to ignore those items
that are less pleasant even
when they are the only ones
there. And other items require
that you do the seven things
leading up to it first, which
require going to the store
to get the items needed to
accomplish the first of the
seven things, which requires
making the money from the
OTHER project on the list
to finance the trip to the
store to get the supplies
to do the seven things to
GET to the items you WANT
to do in the first place.
A
friend of mine who used to
make massive lists written
in microscopic print confessed
to me recently that he no
longer needed them. "Eventually,"
he said "I realized that I
was making the list for the
sake of the list."
He's
right, of course. The lists
are all about the illusion
of control - some false sense
that I can micromanage every
aspect of my life. I feel
that by writing down all of
my objectives somehow I've
dealt with them. Whether I
do them or not is almost irrelevant.
Or
so I say. In the meantime,
as soon as this column is
done I really need to get
out the http://www.keylimecafe.com
newsletter. Then I have to
find some 500 mA fuses and
a new fuel door for the minivan.
I just don't know yet when
I'm going to sleep.
Maybe
if I can finally find the
time to read Stephen Covey's
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People" I will learn the skills
necessary to catch up.
I'll
just add that right here on
the bottom of my list of things
to do.
This
column © 2002 Lee Totten.
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